Chapter 13: This Situation

"By the way, what about your aptitude?" Lu Ye asked, turning his head.

Although he could tell from Yu Xiaodie's demeanor that her aptitude wasn't too bad, Lu Ye still couldn't resist comparing. He needed to know just how poor his own aptitude was, to the point where his third senior brother's words were so contradictory.

Yu Xiaodie was holding her jade token. Hearing Lu Ye's question, she instinctively flinched a little. It wasn't that she wanted to hide anything, but she didn't want to discourage Lu Ye too much.

Lu Ye teased, "Are you looking down on me? Men, as a species, become more motivated the more they're knocked down!"

Yu Xiaodie helplessly said, "Brother Lu, do you really want to see?"

Lu Ye smiled, "The results are already out anyway. It can't get much worse."

Yu Xiaodie thought for a moment and said, "You're right. Brother Lu, you really are free-spirited." She looked impressed.

Lu Ye had already said so much, so how could she refuse? The information recorded on the jade token wasn't something to hide from others.

She extended her hand and handed her jade token to Lu Ye.

Lu Ye took it and looked closely. On the side facing him, Yu Xiaodie's name was engraved. He flipped it to the other side, where her element was displayed – the character for "wood." It seemed Yu Xiaodie's primary element was wood. Below the character for wood was a number.

"Thirty-eight?"

Lu Ye was a bit stunned. This seemed... a little different from what he had imagined?

He then asked, "That's not right, Miss Yu. How can it be thirty-eight? Isn't the maximum eight?"

He remembered very clearly that there were only eight small saplings on the disc. How could there be such an absurd number as thirty-eight?

"The maximum is sixty-four," Yu Xiaodie said, somewhat confused by Lu Ye's words. She counted on her fingers, muttering, "Eight trees, eight leaves each, that's sixty-four, alright. Theoretically, the highest aptitude is sixty-four leaves."

Lu Ye looked up at her, his eyes slowly losing their luster...

Yu Xiaodie was startled and called out softly, "Brother Lu? Are you alright?"

Just a moment ago, he was saying that men become more motivated the more they're knocked down, so how did he become so disheartened in an instant?

She really shouldn't have shown him her jade token, Yu Xiaodie silently blamed herself.

"Pull yourself together, Brother Lu."

"Let me be quiet!" Lu Ye waved his hand at her, looking up at the sky with a blank stare.

He probably understood now: the "one" engraved on the back of his jade token didn't represent one sapling, but one leaf on a sapling!

In the aptitude test, each sapling could grow eight leaves, and with a total of eight saplings, the maximum was sixty-four leaves.

Yu Xiaodie's thirty-eight represented that she had made the saplings grow a total of thirty-eight leaves during the aptitude test, while he only had one leaf, not one tree!

Lu Ye was truly devastated by this.

He had tried his best to lower his expectations, but in the end, he realized that what he thought was his bottom-line expectation was nothing at all.

Being at the bottom of an eight-tier scale was completely different from being at the bottom of a sixty-four-tier scale.

"Brother Lu..." Yu Xiaodie looked at him worriedly, feeling as if Lu Ye was enveloped in a gloomy aura, his previous vigor completely gone. "Although aptitude is important, it doesn't mean everything. Brother Lu, I once heard a saying, 'Heaven rewards diligence'..."

"Then you must not have heard the saying, 'Heaven and Earth are inhumane; they treat all beings as straw dogs...'"

"Huh?" Yu Xiaodie felt something was off.

Lu Ye had already taken a deep breath and recovered. Although he still felt a little upset, as he had said before, the results were out, so he could only face them calmly.

Besides, he still had his Aptitude Tree!

Even if his aptitude wasn't high enough, this miraculous Aptitude Tree should be able to compensate.

"Tell me, what is the basis for this aptitude test?" Lu Ye asked. Although he had just taken the test in the tent, he didn't know the exact process, as he had kept his eyes closed throughout.

Yu Xiaodie didn't explain immediately; instead, she looked at him intently.

There was still clear worry in her eyes. Lu Ye smiled, "I'm really fine."

Yu Xiaodie sighed and said, "Since Brother Lu wants to know, I'll tell you what I understand."

She then explained the principle of the magic array and the testing process one by one.

Lu Ye finally understood. "So, spiritual energy is difficult to draw into my body? Is that why my aptitude is very low?" He couldn't help but recall his own sensations during the test: the external spiritual energy tried hard to burrow into his body but couldn't, causing him pain all over.

Yu Xiaodie nodded, "Exactly."

"I see!" Lu Ye roughly understood, but then new doubts arose. "But what does all this prove? How can one determine a person's aptitude based on these superficial phenomena? Miss Yu, don't misunderstand, I'm not bothered by my low aptitude; I just want to know the reason."

Seeing his solemn expression, Yu Xiaodie was a little exasperated but patiently explained, "Brother Lu, do you know what methods cultivators rely on to grow stronger?"

Lu Ye replied, "Consuming spiritual pills, absorbing spiritual energy, refining essence into qi, and using spirit stones?"

"Exactly," Yu Xiaodie nodded. "However, the main methods are absorbing spiritual energy and utilizing spirit stones. The other two are merely supplementary. If external spiritual energy is difficult to draw into the body, cultivation efficiency will naturally be low, and thus aptitude will be low. With the same amount of time and resources, cultivators with higher aptitude can open more spirit apertures, and their future achievements will naturally be greater. Since Brother Lu has already opened a spirit aperture, you must have felt the difficulty of cultivation."

Lu Ye recalled his dark days in the mine, eating Qi and Blood Pills every day, then refining essence into qi, feeling himself grow stronger little by little. It didn't seem very difficult; in fact, it was a little... enjoyable?

Yu Xiaodie said that cultivators primarily rely on absorbing spiritual energy and spirit stones, with consuming spiritual pills and refining essence into qi as supplementary methods. But for him, it seemed... the opposite.

He vaguely felt something was amiss, so he asked, "Miss Yu, after you opened your first spirit aperture, how long did it take for it to become full?"

If he had a direct comparison, he could determine his own cultivation efficiency. He felt his aptitude shouldn't be that low.

"About twenty-something days," Yu Xiaodie replied. She didn't ask about Lu Ye's situation because she felt the question would only dishearten him again.

With a one-leaf aptitude, even with the aid of spiritual pills, it would probably take several months to fill the first spirit aperture.

Given Lu Ye's previous act of saving her, she still felt grateful towards him. Now, the more she looked at Lu Ye, the more she pitied him...

Indeed, after she spoke, Lu Ye froze, repeating in a murmur, "Twenty-something days?"

Yu Xiaodie hastily explained, "Brother Lu, our situations are different. I was taken away by a disciple from Evil Moon Valley before. She probably wanted to use me to cultivate some dark art, so she helped me open a spirit aperture and gave me a Spirit Accumulation Pill to take. That's why I was able to fill my spirit aperture in just over twenty days."

This was the cultivation speed even with spiritual pills?

Lu Ye, on the other hand, had been taking the cheapest Qi and Blood Pills. From opening his spirit aperture to filling it, it had only taken about ten-something days, which was even faster than Yu Xiaodie.

What was going on here?